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President William Ruto has refuted the authenticity of the photos depicting a 12-year-old boy shot during protests in Rongai. 

While engaging the youth in the inaugural X Space conversation on July 5, 2024, Ruto categorically dismissed the claims, stating that the circulated images were actually from a past incident that occurred in BuruBuru. 

“Unfortunately again, we have to be honest with one another, In Rongai it was said that this young Kenyan was pumped with 8 bullets, but that is also not true. There is a lot of information out there in social media propagated by people to try and create a situation, that did not exist,” Ruto remarked.

While referring to a recent interview done with some Kenyan Journalists regarding the circumstances of Kennedy, Ruto expressed his surprise at the report, highlighting the disparity between the actual events and the misleading social media posts.

“In fact, I heard Kevin say I was asking ‘Did he die?’ Because the one that was being said of 8 bullets did not exist. We have now found out that one of 8 bullets happened several years ago somewhere in BuruBuru and it was in a completely different scenario,” Ruto added.

Moreover, Ruto addressed the tragic events in Githurai, emphasizing that in one specific incident, a criminal assaulted a police officer, stole the officer’s gun, and subsequently used it to harm other individuals. 

“The situation in Githurai was that, a criminal assaulted the police, took the firearm of the police and shot and unfortunately that went a killed young Kenyan,” Ruto added.

How Rongai boy died

In the first week of protests that happened in various parts of the country, an unfortunate situation in Rongai protests left 12-year-old Kennedy Onyango reportedly shot eight times.

Speaking during an interview, his mother stated that her son was not involved in protests, despite being killed.

During the countrywide protests against the Financial Bill, at least 41 people were killed and 361 were injured, according to the Kenya National Human Rights Commission.

The commission said the data was recorded from June 18 to July 1, 2024.